Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit

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• Publication: The Tampa Tribune
• Date: 1994-11-11
• Author: Walt Belcher
• Page: Bay-Life, p. 4
• Language: English

That time-traveling alien "Doctor Who" is traveling back to the Tampa-St. Petersburg TV market this weekend.

The popular, long-running British science fiction series made a big splash in Tampa back in the 1980s when it aired on WEDU, Channel 3, on Saturday nights.

Now that science fiction programs are hot ("The X-Files," "Deep Space Nine," "Earth 2," "Babylon 5," "seaQuest DSV"), the time could be right for a revival of Whovian fever.

WUSF officials hope so. They need to raise $ 12,000 during a special "Doctor Who" pledge drive Saturday night. The money will be used to pay for the rights to the series, which is scheduled to begin in January on Channel 16.

Chris Warner, who is in charge of fundraising for the station, said a lot of local "Doctor Who" fans have volunteered to help with the pledge drive.

"Doctor Who" began in 1963 on the BBC and ran for more than 20 years. With low-budget special effects, the series followed the adventures of a 760-year-old "Time Lord," who traveled through time and space encountering various alien monsters.

It started off as a children's show but quickly became a campy hit with adults. Various actors played the hero, Doctor Who, but the favorite was Tom Baker, who had the role for seven years.

He brought a tongue-in-cheek approach that gave the series a clever wit.

The series enjoyed limited success in the United States during the 1970s as a syndicated program. But it became a huge success in the 1980s airing on PBS stations. At the height of its popularity in 1983-84, the national Doctor Who fan club claimed more than 30,000 members, and more than 7 million viewers tuned in to PBS stations every week. A 1983 Doctor Who convention in Tampa drew more than 3,000 fans.

"We think this is a great, entertaining program that will fit right in with our series such as "Red Dwarf", Warner said. "We are showing two anniversary specials, the 10th and the 20th, back to back Saturday from 6 p.m. to past 11 p.m. Included are seven of the actors who played Doctor Who."

Baker is only briefly featured in the 20th anniversary special, because by that time he had grown weary of the role and wanted to distance himself. However, Channel 16 will be airing the Baker episodes when the series returns in January.

Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org

• APA 6th ed.: Belcher, Walt (1994-11-11). Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit. The Tampa Tribune p. Bay-Life, p. 4.
• MLA 7th ed.: Belcher, Walt. "Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit." The Tampa Tribune [add city] 1994-11-11, Bay-Life, p. 4. Print.
• Chicago 15th ed.: Belcher, Walt. "Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit." The Tampa Tribune, edition, sec., 1994-11-11
• Turabian: Belcher, Walt. "Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit." The Tampa Tribune, 1994-11-11, section, Bay-Life, p. 4 edition.
• Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_is_in_as_WUSF_airs_%22Who%27-dunit | work=The Tampa Tribune | pages=Bay-Life, p. 4 | date=1994-11-11 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=8 June 2025 }}</ref>
• Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Doctor is in as WUSF airs "Who'-dunit | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Doctor_is_in_as_WUSF_airs_%22Who%27-dunit | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=8 June 2025}}</ref>